Train tickets tougher than Everest trek by AllIsWell on 12 June, 2012 - 06:00 PM | ||
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AllIsWell | Train tickets tougher than Everest trek on 12 June, 2012 - 06:00 PM | |
After Everest, an everlasting wait for train tickets. Mountaineers who scaled 29,029ft found it trickier to travel 1,321km on plain ground. Railway reservation glitches compelled the triumphant Everest troika of Rajendra Singh Pal, Meghlal Mahto and Binita Soren to stay put in New Delhi when they descended from the world's highest peak. The trio had aced the Everest on May 26. They were supposed to arrive in Jamshedpur on Sunday. Tata Steel had arranged a grand homecoming and felicitation at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, but the plans had to be shelved. On Monday evening, Meghlal (30) and Binita (25) finally took an evening flight to Calcutta with the aim of catching a morning train to reach Jamshedpur on Tuesday. Fifty-three-year-old Rajendra, celebrity mountaineer Bachendri Pal's younger brother, suffers from claustrophobia and can't stay cooped up in an airplane. Desperate to reach Jamshedpur, he has decided to board a Jamshedpur-bound train from Delhi without a confirmed ticket. "My mother and Bachendri are reaching Delhi (from Dehradun) this evening. I will travel with them to Jamshedpur even if I have to do so without a confirmed ticket. I am desperate to get home. It has been almost three months," he told The Telegraph over phone. Rajendra, a manager with Tata Steel Adventure Programme (TSAF), added that getting confirmed railway tickets from New Delhi to Jamshedpur for the Everest troika proved futile. Even TSAF secretary P.P. Kapadia tried but failed. "We even approached the Railway Board. Later, it was found that the names of the three climbers were not on the reservation chart. Finally, we contacted a Jamshedpur-based travel agency to book air tickets for Meghlal and Binita. Rajendra refused to fly," he added. Ticket glitches apart, Rajendra's muscle pull pain, a source of worry during the Everest descent, is much better. "It was very painful but now I'm fine. Everest has overshadowed injury," he said. Kapadia added that Binita and Meghlal, from Kesosora and Paharpur villages in Rajnagar block of Seraikela-Kharsawan district, had become overnight stars. "Villagers want to accord them a grand reception," said Kapadia. On the felicitation of the climbers in Jamshedpur, Kapadia said it might happen later this week. |